Monday, June 16

Bloomsday

As I mentioned many months ago, today - in addition to being a seminal day in the history of the Seattle SuperSonics - is also Bloomsday, the day in which James Joyce framed his classic work Ulysses.

And while there is no Nestor in this year's events (Nestor was the Greek figure who urged reconciliation between Argamenon and Achilles during the Trojan War, and served as the title of episode 2 of Ulysses, but you knew that, right?), there is Mayor Greg Nickels, who serves as, geez, forget the metaphors ...

Anyhow, Sonic supporters might be a little less than thrilled with Nickels' testimony today. While his work with the city's attorneys went swimmingly (except for an sustained objection that went against the city), he had a few pratfalls while dealing with the PBC's attorneys. To wit:

- Testified that he supported the Ballmer Group of Four purchasing the Sonics, "but did not work toward it." (quoting the KING-5 blog here). At which time, the defense presented a video showing previous Nickels' testimony wherein he says he was working toward it.

- Admitted he had only attended two Sonic games in the past 7 or 8 years. Which puts him behind me, and I don't even live in the U.S.!

- Admitted that KeyArena is not a good long-term building for the team.

Naturally, this bit of testimony isn't the end of the case, and it doesn't mean the city is going to lose. And, knowing that Clay Bennett is poised to take the stand and defend his indefensible position on the emails between he and McClendon and Ward certainly makes me feel a bit better. Still, it would have been nice to see the Mayor come off a little better on the stand.